BethelParkStreamRestoration_EProngHuntingCrFiddlersRun_Burke_NCWRCComments

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission
Cameron Ingram, Executive Director

Mailing Address: Habitat Conservation • 1721 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1721
Telephone: [phone] • Fax: [phone]
July 11, 2023

Ms. Brandee Boggs
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch
151 Patton Avenue, Room 208
Asheville, North Carolina 28801-5006

SUBJECT: Bethel Park Stream Restoration
East Prong Hunting Creek, Fiddlers Run, and UTs, Burke County

Dear Ms. Boggs:

Biologists with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) reviewed an
application to impact 4,038 ft of East Prong Hunting Creek, Fiddlers Run, and unnamed
tributaries (UTs) and 0.013 acre of wetland for a stream and floodplain restoration project in
Burke County. Our comments on this application are offered for your consideration under
provisions of the Clean Water Act of 1977 (33 U.S.C. 466 et. seq.) and Fish and Wildlife
Coordination Act (48 Stat. 401, as amended; 16 U.S.C. 661-667d).

Project activities should not impact wild trout, and a trout moratorium is not needed for the
project. However, the rare Carolina Foothills Crayfish, Cambarus johni (NC Significantly Rare),
is found in the project vicinity.

The project proposes to stabilize eroding reaches of stream by restoring dimension, pattern and
profile to project streams with constructed riffles, boulder toes, brush toes, log sills, W-weirs, log
and j-hooks. The design team worked with NCWRC biologists to incorporate habitat structures
for the Carolina Foothills Crayfish. Stormwater will be managed with 3 acres of bioretention
swales. A diverse native riparian buffer that is generally 50-ft wide or wider would be
established. Much of the project will be constructed off-line; for reaches that will be constructed
in the wet, flows should be either pumped around or diverted with coffer dams from work areas.

We offer the following recommendations to minimize impacts to the aquatic community:
1. In-channel work should be accomplished as quickly as possible and vigilance used in
sediment and erosion control during site preparation, construction, and clean up. Disturbed
areas should be seeded, mulched and/or matted as soon as possible, preferably at the end of
each work day.
Bethel Park Restoration Page 2 11 July 2023
E Prong Hunting Cr & tribs, Burke Co
2. For reaches that will be constructed in the wet, flows should be either pumped around or
diverted away from work areas with coffer dams.
3. Any erosion control matting used should be free of plastic mesh, as this type of mesh netting
frequently entangles wildlife and is slow to degrade, resulting in a hazard that may last for
years.

Thank you for the opportunity to review and comment on this project. Please contact me at
[phone] if you have any questions about these comments.

Sincerely,

Andrea Leslie
Mountain Region Coordinator, Habitat Conservation Program

ec: Win Taylor, Wildlands Engineering
Joey Winston, NC Division of Water Resources
TR Russ, NCWRC